Northside High School is no stranger to the regional final – in football.

Northside’s football team has made it to the regional final five of the last eight seasons dating back to 2005, but the boys’ basketball team had never done so – until today.

It’s not that the Monarchs haven’t been successful on the court. They have. Northside has made it to the playoffs every year since the school opened in 2001. And they’d advanced to the regional semifinal three times.

But today when the 10th-seeded Monarchs (23-3) take on two-defending state champion and fifth-seeded Kinston (24-4) in the NCHSAA 2-A East Regional final at Crown Arena in Fayetteville, Northside will be in uncharted territory.

All of which begs the question: Is Northside more than a football school now?

“Yeah, a little bit more because everybody just thought we were a football team and we would never make it out of the regional semifinals for basketball,” said junior Kris Curry, who was named first-team all-area running back by The Daily News this past season. “So if we could win the regional final or the state championship, we could show people we’re not just a football school.”

Curry’s brother, Korey, who also was a starter on the football team, begged to differ.

“I don’t think so,” he said with a laugh.

So football is still No. 1?

“Yeah,” he said, laughing again.

Whatever the case, this much is certain: If the Monarchs beat Kinston, the basketball team would have done something the football team has never done, which is make it to the state championship game.

East winner vs. TBD

The Northside-Kinston winner will advance to the state finals March 15 at Reynolds Coliseum against the winner of the West Regional, which is far from being determined because of weather-related delays.

At 11 a.m. today, No. 11 East Rutherford (22-5) faces No. 7 North Rowan (20-5) in the regional semifinal at Fleming Gymnasium on the campus of UNC-Greensboro.

That winner will face top-seeded Smoky Mount (28-0) in the regional final Sunday at 2 p.m. at Fleming Gym.

And that winner advances to the state title game.

Not surprised

Some might be surprised Northside is in the regional finals. Don’t count senior forward Davion Ayabarreno among them. Ayabarreno, who leads the Monarchs in scoring at 16.8 points a game and rebounding at 7.3, said he expected Northside to go far this season.

“Not to sound cocky or anything, but I definitely thought we could go to the state championship because of the experience we had last year,” he said, referring to the Monarchs losing in the regional semifinals a year ago. “We had a lot of players coming back. We had good talent, good young players who wanted to work.

Page 2 of 2 - “I just knew if we worked hard and listened to our coaches ... and played defense I was pretty sure we could go far.”

Playing a lot

Both Northside and Kinston haven’t been afraid to use their sixth man ... or seventh man ... or eighth man this season.

Northside has nine players who have played in at least 20 of its 26 games this season – and three more who have played in at least 16. And six are averaging 7.2 points or better for a team that is averaging 69.6 points.

Kinston also has used its bench liberally. The Vikings eight players who have played in at least 21 of their 28 games – and one other who has seen action in 18 games.

Kinston has gotten its scoring from a smaller core group, with four players averaging 9.0 points or better for a team averaging 57.6 points.

Getting support

Coach Tony Marshburn said the Monarchs’ success, which includes beating Onslow County rival Southwest in the regional semifinals, has created a high level of excitement on campus as well as outside school.

“This whole school has been buzzing and the community has been buzzing,” he said. “I’ve had so many phone calls and texts from people in the community, from friends, colleagues and from former players. Right now there’s a big buzz.”

Going hard

Northside was in the middle of a practice earlier this week when Marshburn acknowledged just how hard the players were going during 1-on-1 drills.

“I think they think right now they are playing for the Eastern title with the way they are practicing. There’s no let up,” Marshburn said. “There’s a loose ball over there in the bleachers and they are still fighting for it. That’s just the way these kids practice and it’s the way we play.”